Break all the silence
by The Paper Princess
Summary: Addison Montgomery helps a young girl who has been abused by her father (Private Practice/Grey's Anatomy) FIRST CHAPTER RATED M, the rest is T
1. Chapter 1

Warning: Mature content

"Maddie, get down here you little whore" she heard her father yell. He was drunk. She could literally smell the alcohol all the way up to her room, but that was nothing new. She should be used to it actually.

With shaking legs she forced herself to go into the living room, it would be a hundred times worse if she disobeyed him.

As soon as he saw her come down the stairs, her father walked towards her and tried to pull her down the last few steps, causing her to fall on the floor.

"Get up right now!" he yelled and kicked her, when she didn't move

"Dad, no. Please!" she almost screamed, but he had lifted her off the ground and was dragging her to the couch, that was standing only a few steps away.

"Shut up" he said as he started to rip off her clothes

"But I didn't do anything bad today, please don't" she cried and tried to cover herself up with her hands. His breath smelled like vodka and cigarettes, but that wasn't the main thing she was focused on right now.

He had his hands all over- or more like his mouth, his hands were holding her wrists, pressing her down on the couch.

He was taking his time today, which surprised her, usually he didn't have that much patience. But he was clearly enjoying this, she hadn't cried in weeks and she could tell that her weakness was turning him on.

 _"_ _It's pointless"_ she thought, as she felt him put all his weight on her body, before he got onto his knees and pulled her underwear down to her ankles.

"Stop being a crybaby. You are a woman now" he said as his hands wandered lower.

Maddie pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to stop him from touching her

Within seconds, he managed to spread her legs apart and thrust into her. Maddie tried to stop herself from screaming out in pain, she didn't want to give him that pleasure.

"Look at me" he demanded and pulled on her hair, to force her to keep her head up

 _"_ _It's gonna stop. It's gonna stop. It's gonna stop_ " she told herself over and over again, every time he thrust into her.

And it did stop.

After five minutes he rolled off of her and just lay on the couch, breathing heavily. She waited until she was completely sure that he was asleep, before getting up again and walking back to her room.

She just lay in her bed naked, too scared to even get into the shower. What if he would hear her and decide that it was time for round 2?

But this time was different than any other time her father had come home drunk. He was right. She was a woman now. She had gotten her period for the first time a week ago. She hadn't told him- obviously, not wanting to give him any more reasons to rape her.

She sat up in the bed and listened to him snoring in the living room. She almost vomited at the thought of his baby growing inside of her.

She couldn't get pregnant.

No.

She needed the morning- after pill. There was no other option- other than killing herself.

She slowly climbed out of her bed and put her clothes back on.

 _"_ _What are you doing? He is going to kill you"_ she thought, as she made her way down the stairs and carefully opened the door, trying not to make any noise. Once she had closed the door behind her, she started running, anxious that her father had heard her shut the door and was now coming after her.

When she was at the end of the road she looked back. Nothing.

 _"_ _Too drunk to walk anymore_ " she thought to herself before she turned around and kept walking. She was lucky, the hospital was only about 10 minutes away from her house.

If you have read all the way down: thank you for taking the time out of your day/night. I would really appreciate it, if some of you left me a review, if you have another minute. I hope you are all doing well :)


	2. Chapter 2

She hesitated before walking through the hospital doors and looked around, trying to figure out what to do next.

" _You just need the pill"_ she reminded herself

She walked through the hallways of the hospital for a few minutes, keeping her head down, never finding the courage to ask a doctor for help.

Suddenly she got anxious. _What if he will wake up before I'm back? What if they will call him because I am a minor?_

"Hey, do you need help?" a doctor with red hair asked

"I… I need the morning-after pill please" the girl said and looked at the doctor with big eyes.

"Why don't you come with me?" the doctor asked. She looked at the kid, she couldn't be any older than 14 years old

"I really just need the pill, I am fine." Maddie said, but the doctor had already put her arm around her and was now leading the way into a small examination room.

"Please, I really just-"Maddie started when she saw the woman closing the door behind her.

"Can you tell me your name?" the doctor asked

"I am Maddie. Maddie Corner."

"I am Doctor Montgomery" the red haired woman said "Sweetie, how old are you" Addison asked, her eyes focused on the girl.

"I'm 13", she said and started playing with her hair nervously

"You know you're not old enough to be having sex, right?" Addison asked with a calming voice, she didn't want to scold her, she was worried. She looked at the girl and could see the fear written all over her face. She had seen a lot of rebellious teenagers over the years and her instincts told her, that this wasn't the case here.

"Can you just give me the pill please, I promise I won't do it again." She said and looked at Addison with pleading eyes. She wanted to get out of the hospital as quickly as possible, before he noticed that she had left the house, but she couldn't leave without the pill.

"Honey, is everything ok? I mean, if anybody forced you-"she couldn't finish the sentence

"Nothing happened, I just… had sex and need the pill" she said trying to sound grown up, but her face gave away that she was lying.

"Ok, we'll make a deal, alright? I will give you the pill, but you have to let me examine you before you leave. "She said and looked down at her young patient, this time with more stern eyes.

"No" Maddie said and looked at her in shock "I am not doing this", she said and looked over to the tray with instruments and the examination table.

"I am a gynecologist Maddie, I am doing this every day." She tried to reassure her

"No, I don't want this, I am leaving." She said and made her way to the door

"Hey, you're not going anywhere." Addison said and grabbed her arm, she couldn't let this kid leave

"Let me go, please just let me go!" Maddie said and tried to get away from the doctor, her eyes getting watery. She finally managed to free her hands, but Doctor Montgomery was now standing in front of the door, making it impossible for the young girl to leave

"This was a stupid idea, I shouldn't have come here. I need to go home. Please you have to let me go, he's going to kill me"

The words came out before she could stop them. She stared at the doctor with wide eyes and took a few steps back.

"Who's going to kill you?" Addison asked, but the girl didn't answer her

"Look sweetie, if you stay here, I promise you that nobody will hurt you, okay?" she tried again

"Please you have to let me go, you don't understand this" She said, her face was red and tears were spilling out of her eyes uncontrollably. She looked around, but there was no other exit and she knew, that she wouldn't get past the tall woman. Her breathing quickened and her knees suddenly gave in. She sat down and pulled her knees up to her chest

"You need to breathe, Maddie. Listen, I am not going to hurt you." Addison said and kneeled down on the floor, to be at her eye level. She gently pulled the girl's hands away from her face and looked straight into her eyes, but Maddie remained silent

"You don't understand this." Maddie sayed, desperately trying to get her breathing under control

"Well then explain it" Addison said and started rubbing soothing circles on the girl's back

Maddie only looked at her with big eyes, she opened her mouth a few times, but nothing came out. Then she finally shook her head slightly and covered her face with her hands again.

"Did someone rape you, sweetie? " Addison asked, not quite sure if she wanted to know the answer

Maddie looked up again and then looked at the door and realized that she wasn't going to get out of this anymore, after all ,it was her fault. She nodded.

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Thank you for reading, please leave me a review and tell me what you think :)


	3. Chapter 3

_"_ _Did someone rape you, sweetie? " Addison asked, not quite sure if she wanted to know the answer_

 _Maddie looked up again and then looked at the door and realized that she wasn't going to get out of this anymore, after all it was her fault. She nodded._

"Ok, can you tell me what happened, please?" Addison asked, but the kid just shook her head, avoiding eye contact.

"Fine" Addison said and sighed after a few minutes of silence "You don't need to tell me what happened yet, if you don't want to. But you have to let me examine you. And I have to call the police and your parents" she said and was about to stand up when the girl started talking again.

"No, no parents" she said quickly and got up so fast, that she almost fell

"Look, I know that you are afraid of how they will react and that you are probably ashamed, but I still have to call them. You will feel a lot better when you have your family around, I promise."

"No please! It… it was my dad, okay? And I don't have a mom, so…. "She stuttered and looked straight into the doctor's eyes

"Ok, I'm going to go and call the police and get a nurse in here to help you get changed into a gown." Addison said after she had comprehended what Maddie had just told her.

"I need you to consent to doing a rape kit, okay Maddie?" she asked

"What is that?" Maddie asked, cringing at the name

"It means that we will collect all the evidence on your body, to prove that you were raped." She said "This is the only way we can make sure, that he will never hurt you again." She added quickly when she saw Maddie's face drop. Maddie agreed to do it. She would agree to everything that would get her away from that monster.

"Do you want a rape crisis counselor?" she asked, following the protocol "That's an emergency room advocate who stays with you during the rape kit and gives you advice-"

"I don't want one." Maddie said and shook her head

Addison nodded and left the room. Just seconds later a small woman with big brown eyes came in.

"Hi Maddie, I am Stephanie. I will help you get changed, okay?" the nurse said as she entered the room

Maddie nodded and slowly walked over to stand on the white paper blanket, that Stephanie had spread across the floor.

"I need you to take of all your clothes and put them in these paper bags. Underwear goes into this one" the nurse said and motioned towards one of the two paper bags she was handing her.

Maddie started to undress, but couldn't pull her sweatshirt over her head, since her wrists were still hurting

"Wait let me help you" Stephanie said and quickly walked over to Maddie, when she couldn't watch the girl struggle any longer.

Maddie let the nurse help her undress, but still tried to cover herself up as well as she could.

"It's okay, you don't need to be embarrassed." The nurse said and smiled at her when she noticed how uncomfortable the girl looked.

Only seconds later the door swung open again and Dr. Montgomery came back

"Ok, come here please" Addison said and patted on the examination table, motioning for Maddie to sit down

"I need to ask you some questions about your medical history" she said and quickly asked the girl a bunch of questions, that were required when doing a rape kit

"So the first thing we need to do is take pictures of all your injuries" she said, once they went over all the questions "I see that you have some bruises and your wrists and arms, so that's where we should start" she said and took the pictures after Maddie had agreed to it.

"Do you have any other visible injuries?" Addison asked

"I also have some bruises on my back." She mumbled, shivering at the thought of her dad standing over her and kicking her.

Addison went around the table and slowly opened the back of Maddie's gown to take some pictures of her back.

"Anything else?" Addison asked

"No, I think he was afraid that people would see the bruises and call the police" Maddie said, barely audible

"Is it okay if I still look at your legs and stomach really quickly? Just to make sure we don't miss out on anything" Addison asked and draped a sheet over Maddie's lap when she nodded, to give her some privacy, before lifting her gown to look at her stomach and chest. She then looked over her legs really quickly, but didn't find anything.

Next she took the swabs that Stephanie was handing her and took some oral swabs.

"These are pills against chlamydia and gonorrhea" Addison said a few minutes later and handed Maddie the pills, together with a glass of water "And this" she said and sighed "this is the morning-after pill. I will also give you something to prevent HIV" she said handed the pills over

"Next we will cut your fingernails and then we will take some blood samples" she explained before completing the steps.

There was a knock on the door and Stephanie quickly walked over to the door and opened it. Two police officers came in.


	4. Chapter 4

"I am Officer Walker, I am here to talk to the victim." One of the two officers said and came closer to the examination table.

" _Victim_ " Maddie thought. That's really all she was. That was all she had ever been.

"Can you tell me what happened?" the man asked, pulling Maddie out of her thoughts

She looked over to Addison and Stephanie unsure, but started talking when both women gave her a reassuring nod

"My dad… he attacked me." She whispered. She couldn't get herself to say the word, even though she didn't know why.

"Attacked you?" he said in a questioning tone

"He… he" she looked at Addison with pleading eyes, but she knew that she was the one, who had to say it

"He raped me."

"When and where did this happen?" he asked, not taking any notice of the girl's discomfort

"Umm… About an hour ago" she stuttered

"And you were at home, I am assuming"? the officer asked and wrote a few more lines in a notebook when Maddie nodded. After asking the girl for her address and her father's full name, he continued with the interview

"Is your father still at home?" he asked

"I guess yeah, he was sleeping when I left. I don't think he heard me leave but he might have woken up by now." She finished and watched the officer and his partner getting ready to leave

"Ok, that's all for now." He said as they quickly walked towards the door " One of our colleagues will come back later to ask more questions and we will send someone to get the rape kit, as soon as you're done here" he said to Addison, before walking out and closing the door behind them.

Maddie let out a deep breath as soon as the two officers were out of the door and looked at Addison anxiously.

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Thank you all for reading. I know that this was a really short chapter, the next one will be a lot longer:) Have a great day/night

Question: Should I rate this story M or leave it T? The next two chapters will be pretty dark.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ok honey, I know that this is hard, but the last thing we need to do is a pelvic exam. Do you know what that is?" she asked and smiled encouragingly when Maddie nodded

"Is that really necessary… I mean you have the pictures and everything. I just… I really don't want to do this" she said, keeping her head down

"Yes, I am sorry. So far we can only prove that your dad hit you, but we have nothing to prove that you were sexually assaulted." She said and gave her a sad smile, when Maddie didn't respond she continued

"Can you tell me what you are afraid of? She asked

"I don't know… it's just really weird and I am not comfortable with it. Like I don't want to lie there naked and get touched again." She said quietly and kept her eyes on the ground.

"I understand that this must be really difficult for you, especially because you are so young, but this is important Maddie, not only because of the rape kit, but for your health. You don't need to be embarrassed, I am a doctor, okay? I am doing this every day and this is also not the first rape kit I have done. "She said and waited for Maddie to give her a small nod, before she started talking again

"And you know that I won't touch you the same way your dad did, right?" she asked. Another nod.

"Doctor Montgomery?" Maddie asked and finally looked up "Is this going to hurt?" She asked, looking at all the different instruments, that nurse Stephanie was now preparing for the exam.

"It will be uncomfortable, yes, but I can't tell you if it will hurt right now, because I don't know if you have any injuries or infections." She said truthfully. "I can't promise you that it won't hurt, because I don't want to lie to you, but I can promise you, that I would never intentionally hurt you and that I will be really careful. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Maddie answered, just loud enough for Addison to hear and gave her a weak smile.

"Do you want me to explain everything that I will be doing?" Addison asked and rolled her sliding chair over to the tray when Maddie nodded, to show the kid all the instruments she was going to be using.

"Ok so first Stephanie will hold this blacklight" she said, showing it to Maddie "and I will take some swabs of any liquids I can see on your thighs and external genitals."

Maddie looked down again, crossing her arms over her stomach. She was beginning to feel really nauseous and dizzy. Her head felt heavy and she felt exhausted, yet she wasn't tired. Adrenaline was rushing through her body and she became more and more anxious and ashamed as she was listening to Doctor Montgomery.

"I will also look for any bruises or injuries and collect pubic hair." She said as she put the blacklight down again. "Then I will use this instrument" she said, holding up a metal tool "it's called a speculum. I will use this to examine you for any internal injuries and I will take some swabs again. After that I will use a colposcope. That is a special camera that helps me see really small injuries and take pictures of them for evidence." Addison said and saw Maddie wipe a tear away with the back of her hand from the corner of her eye.

"Hey Maddie, look at me please" she said and rolled her chair a little closer to the examination table, to hold Maddie's hand. "I know that you are scared, but this is the last part of the rape kit, you are almost done. Do you understand everything I explained or do you have any questions or a part that you want me to go over again?" She asked and put new gloves on

"I understand everything" Maddie whispered and took a deep breath

"Okay good, remember that we can always take a break in case you get too anxious and if you tell me to stop, I will. I also want you to tell me if you are uncomfortable with me doing something- and Maddie, what's most important is, that you tell me right away if you feel any pain. Whether it's because of possible injuries or any of the instruments. I don't want you to be too ashamed to tell me that something hurts, because I can't help you if you don't talk to me. Do you understand? "She finally asked after a short silence and sighed when Maddie nodded.

"Should we start then?" she asked and stood up

"Yeah" Maddie responded, bracing herself for what was to come.

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Hey guys, as always thanks for reading! Please comment and tell me if you like the way I have been writing this so far or if I should tone it down a bit, since this chapter was pretty haevy.


	6. Chapter 6

Addison walked to the end of the room and came back with a blanket, which she draped over Maddie's lap.

"I need you to lie all the way back and then Stephanie and I will help you put your feet in these stirrups." She explained while the nurse was making her way around the table.

Maddie slowly lay back and gripped the sides of the table with shaking hands. She was finding it extremely hard to breathe and felt the urge to sit back up as soon as her back connected with the table, but she stayed in place. She felt Stephanie and Dr. Montgomery both take one of her legs and lift her feet up in the stirrups and saw the doctor sit down on her sliding chair again. She closed her knees, feeling her whole body tense up. Up until this moment, she had remained pretty calm, but now, that she was actually laying on the examination table, both feet up and exposed, she was feeling extremely vulnerable and embarrassed.

Stephanie could see Maddie's eyes darting around in panic and quickly put a hand on her shoulder when she saw Maddie making first attempts to sit up again.

"Don't be afraid, this will go really quickly and then I can bring you up to the children's ward so you can shower and get a little rest. Does that sound good?" she asked and stroked some hair out of Maddie's face, that was sticking to her check because of all the tears. Maddie just nodded again, not trusting her voice.

"I will start now" Addison said and Maddie watched Stephanie walk to the end of the table to hold the blacklight Dr. Montgomery was handing her.

Maddie was staring towards her feet, desperately trying to see what they were doing, even though the doctor had explained everything before. Her hands and feet were ice cold, almost numb and she was sweating.

"Sweetie, I need to open your knees a little bit so I can see something." Addison said with a soothing voice and waited for Maddie to agree, before gently spreading her legs apart.

Once she was sure, that Maddie had calmed down a little bit, Addison started with the exam. After all these years, rape kits were still the most horrendous part of her job. But this case was even worse. Maddie was still so young and Addison herself could barely stay focused on what she was doing, every time she heard Maddie wince in pain or saw her squirm around a little bit. A few minutes into the exam, she couldn't take seeing her cry anymore.

"I know you didn't want a counselor, but do you want me to get one of my colleagues to sit with you? I could even get a therapist down here." She said, but Maddie just shook her head rapidly

She didn't want anybody else in this room, the whole situation was already uncomfortable enough and if she was completely honest with herself, she didn't want anybody here trying to distract her, she wanted to focus on this right now.

"Alright, just tell me if you change your mind. We are almost done with the first part of the exam, just bear with me for another minute, I will tell you before I start using the speculum." She said before lifting the gown again to continue with the exam.

"Stephanie?" Maddie asked, looking over to the nurse

"Yes sweetheart?"

"Do you think the police have my dad already?" she asked, as a horrible thought crossed her mind. The nurse followed Maddie's eyes, which were now focused on the door.

"Maddie, your dad will not come in here." She reassured her "He doesn't know that you are here and we have way too much security for that to happen. And to answer your question, I am sure they have him in custody by now- the police takes child abuse cases really seriously, don't worry." She reasoned and saw Maddie relax slightly, before Addison raised her voice.

"I will insert the speculum now. It might hurt a little, since you are really sore, but I will be really careful." She said and took the instrument, that Stephanie was handing. Maddie tried to breathe and stay relaxed, but as soon as she felt Addison's hand near her thighs, she pulled her knees together and propped herself up on her elbows.

"Can you… can you wait a second please? I need a break" she stammered with a shaky voice and looked at Addison with pleading eyes.

Addison nodded and immediately removed her hands.

"Why don't you sit up for a moment?" she asked and helped Maddie get back into a sitting position. Maddie's entire body was shaking now and her breathing was uneven.

"It's okay" Addison tried to soothe "Try to take a few deep breaths. Do you want to stop? You don't have to finish this, if you don't want to. I am sorry if I pressured you before, I just wanted to make sure that you are heathy." She said, almost sounding guilty when she looked at the shaking girl. She was pale like a ghost and her eyes were red and swollen.

"No, I want to finish it, I just panicked for a second. I am fine." She mumbled quickly, trying to convince herself more than the doctor.

"Okay, but I am going to have Stephanie sit with you." Addison said and walked back to her chair. Stephanie took her spot and gently pulled both of Maddie's hands away from the sides of the table.

Maddie looked at Addison again and saw her take the speculum one more time.

"Focus on me, sweetheart." She heard Stephanie's voice. She turned her head and looked into her warm, concerned eyes.

"Maddie, we'll try again now, alright?" Addison said, when she saw that Stephanie had been successful at calming Maddie.

"Just get it over with please" Maddie said weakly and squeezed Stephanie's hand as she felt the pressure of the speculum entering her. She closed her eyes and didn't dare to open them again, until she heard Addison's voice.

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"Good job, we are done now. " The doctor announced and took her gloves off.

"Can I take her to the children's ward now?" Stephanie asked

"Yes, I think that would be the best" Addison agreed, Stephanie was right, the kid looked exhausted. "The police might come back later to ask her more questions, but they have everything they need for now, so that can wait." She said and made a mental note to make sure, that every single person working at the children's ward knew, that no police officers were allowed to talk to Maddie any time soon. "

"Maddie, if you need anything, just tell a nurse to page me" she said, before walkeing over to the door.

"Thank you" Maddie said, not whispering for the first time in hours

"That's my job" Addison responded smiling

"Thank you for being so patient with me." Maddie mumbled, more quiet again

Addison gave her an even bigger smile before walking out of the room.

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Thanks everyone for reading :)

This chapter was a bit longer, like some of you requested, but it will also be the last one for a couple of weeks, since I promised myself to work on my other story again (I was kind of neglecting it because of this one lol)

As always, please tell me what you think and what I should work on :) Have an amazing day


	7. Chapter 7

The children's ward was on the third floor of the building. Maddie noticed that the walls weren't clinically white and plain, like they were in the rest of the hospital, but were instead decorated with several colorful drawings that looked like they had been made with watercolors and crayons. The second thing she noticed was the silence that lay heavily in the air; She could hear the quiet rustling of papers that seemed to come from a young nurse, who was organizing the paperwork of the day in a tiny office that connected to the ward and thought that she could hear _beep_ _sounds_ , coming from the machines in the patients' rooms, even though they were barely audible. Taking it all in, Maddie tried to look out of a lower window and suddenly realized how dark it had gotten outside. It was well past midnight;

Stephanie was now talking to the nurse in the office, who Maddie had noticed only a moment earlier. She seemed tired and overwhelmed; There were dark circles under her eyes and strands of her blond hair were hanging out of her ponytail. She whispered something that Maddie couldn't quite understand from where her wheelchair was standing, but Stephanie, who had been standing right next to the other woman, had just nodded and gave Maddie a small, reassuring smile.

Silently, Stephanie rolled her wheelchair into a small two-bed room. Both beds were empty and Maddie was grateful for it. She always enjoyed being around her peers at school, but she felt a wave of relief come over her, when she realized that she would be the only kid sleeping in this room for the night, as she did not feel like answering any other questions today- especially not to some other girl her age.

It took her a moment to realize that Stephanie was looking at her expectantly and she raised her head to meet the nurse's eyes.

"Do you still want to take a quick shower or do you just want to go to bed now?" Stephanie asked

"Shower please" Maddie answered and suddenly felt her face heat up a little

Stephanie didn't seem to notice this- or at least pretended not to; Wordlessly, she helped the girl get up from her wheelchair and led her into a bathroom, which was attached to Maddie's room.

Maddie looked over her shoulder and saw Stephanie standing in the doorway, looking rather concerned.

"Do you need help" she asked, frowning

Maddie made a weird movement- shrugging and nodding her head at the same time; Stephanie must have noticed her obvious discomfort right away. She quietly closed the door behind her and stepped forward, motioning for Maddie to hold onto her, while she helped the girl undress.

Maddie shivered at first; She wasn't used to adults other than her dad touching her and had to remind herself that Stephanie meant no harm.

Stephanie kept trying to comfort her, whispering reassuring words and stroking her hair occasionally. Maddie sat down in the shower and pulled her knees up ho her chest. She let out a shaky breath once the first drops of water hit her head and tried to relax. For the first time in hours, all the adrenaline had left her body and the only feelings she had left were shame, anxiety and exhaustion.

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Sorry for the long wait guys, I am really busy these days. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter; If you have another minute please leave me a review and tell me what you think! Have a great day/night :)


	8. Chapter 8

Her eyes were closed.

Not that she would have been able to see much anyway. The world outside the windows seemed even more like a cold, dark place than it usually did and the lights inside her room were dimmed, the only light coming from the hallway.

She had asked Stephanie to leave the door open and the nurse had reluctantly done so, after Maddie had assured her that neither the light nor the noises, coming from outside her room, would be a distraction. More than that, to Maddie they were a _welcome_ distraction. She felt safer, knowing that there were people out in the hallway. She could hear their footsteps on the floor, quiet voices talking to each other; She squeezed her eyes shut, daring herself to fall asleep. She tried to not focus on the voices in her head, the voices that belonged to her father and herself, telling her that this was all her fault. Scenes appeared in her head, moments from when she was younger- younger but still capable of telling someone.

She tried to ignore the feeling of guilt that had been eating her up for years now. She forced the thoughts out of her head and instead focused on her surroundings.

The voices had become louder or maybe, there were just more people on the children's ward now. Suddenly, she noticed that another voice had joined the all too familiar voices of the nurses, causing the babble of voices to become slightly louder and easier to differentiate from each other. The voices were moving towards her now and Maddie recognized the first one- a motherly sounding voice that sounded concerned- to be Stephanie's, the second one belonged to another woman, and it didn't take Maddie more than a few seconds to identify it as Dr. Montgomery's voice.

She opened her eyes slightly and wasn't surprised to see the two of them standing right in front of her door. Stephanie was whispering something incoherent now and Maddie raised her head off of her pillow just a few centimeters, hoping to get a gist of what they were talking about- an action that didn't go unnoticed by Stephanie, who had apparently been eyeing her closely all along.

The nurse opened the door and quickly entered the room, followed by Dr. Montgomery.

"Hey" Maddie said weakly and finally sat up

Stephanie turned on the light, while Dr. Montgomery quietly shut the door behind them and walked over to Maddie.

"Hey" Dr. Montgomery said and sat down on the edge of her bed "Why aren't you sleeping?"

Maddie just shrugged and looked down

"I just wanted to see how you were doing." Dr. Montgomery said after a few seconds, but the girl remained quiet. She looked over her shoulder and saw Stephanie standing behind her with a sad look on her face.

"Do you need anything?" the nurse asked Maddie

"No, I'm fine" she said quickly and looked up to meet Stephanie's and Dr. Montgomery's eyes. Both women smiled at her sadly and it made Maddie want to cry more than anything else that had happened that day.

They cared. Or at least they pretended to care- she didn't know or care about the difference anymore. The pity in their eyes was so obvious that it made her feel slightly anxious. Their eyes were examining her, as if they expected her to break down if they let her out of their sight for even one second.

"So, what's going to happen now?" Maddie asked after a few more seconds filled with nothing but awkward silence.

Dr. Montgomery and Stephanie exchanged a worried look before the nurse sat down next to Dr. Montgomery and took a deep breath.

"We are not sure" Stephanie started "We have looked through your files to find any contact information about other relatives that might be able to take you in, but so far, we haven't really been successful" she finished hesitantly.

"Do you maybe have grandparents or aunts and uncles that could take care of you?" Dr. Montgomery asked and looked at Maddie encouragingly

Maddie shook her head. She hadn't thought that far. All she had wanted was to get away from him, to escape, she hadn't wasted a single thought in what would happen with her once she would finally be free of him.

"Maybe you have godparents or any close friends who-"Stephanie threw in, but Maddie shook her head again before she could finish her sentence.

Maddie bit her lip and felt her face heating up. She started playing with her hair and kept her eyes on the white bed sheets.

Stephanie reached out and gently took one of Maddie's hands in her own.

"Try to not worry about that right now, okay?" she said "We will figure something out"

Maddie just nodded, she didn't know what to say and even if she had known how to put her thoughts into one cohesive sentence, she wasn't sure that she would have been able to speak right now.

"Two police officers will come to take your statement in the morning" Dr. Montgomery said carefully "They are both experts in their field, you don't need to be scared" she added once she saw the perplexed look on Maddie's face.

This time, Maddie didn't react at all, and the two woman took it as their clue to leave. The girl looked even more miserable than she had when the two of them had entered her room.

Stephanie made sure to not fully close the door, once they had stepped out into the hallway and remembered Maddie that she was just around the corner, but Maddie didn't answer. She had turned around and was now facing the opposite direction. She didn't bother to close her eyes again, she would not be able to fall asleep tonight anyway.

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Hey guys, sorry for the long wait, I don't have any time to write lately. I hope you liked this chapter, I know it was more of a filler chapter but I feel like it was necessary, because the story seemed very fast-paced. Anyway, the next few chapters should be more interesting again lol. Please leave me a review if you have another minute. Have a great evening/morning.


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